Crude oil leaks from Enbridge pipeline pumping station

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Enbridge Inc. says that heavy crude oil leaked from a pipeline pumping station near Elk Point, Alta. on Monday.

The company estimates about 230,000 litres were released from the pumping station on the Athabasca pipeline about 24 kilometres southeast of Elk Point.

The pipeline has been shut in and the pumping station was isolated, the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) said in a news release on Tuesday.

ERCB spokesman Darin Barter said that no waterways have been affected and a cleanup is now underway.

"There's no running water, there's no standing water in the area, so there is really no water sources," he said. "There's no domestic water wells in the area. It's not going to penetrate the soil that quickly because it is heavy crude oil."

ERCB officials are investigating and have a crew at the site monitoring the clean-up, which Barter says could take several days.

Earlier this month, about 3,000 barrels of oil leaked into the Red Deer River near Sundre from the Rangeland pipeline owned by Plains Midstream Canada.